Posted by BlueSeats:

Would you rather eat steak and lobster every day at great local restaurants, or eat McDonalds everyday but once in your life go to the best Parisian restaurant?

Would you rather your sibling be a solid citizen to all, or to be a mass murderer who gets a visit from the Pope?

Would you rather have a dad who was there for you every day to teach you sports and help with your homework, or one who was rarely around but once sent you to Disney World?

It's one thing to offer your soul for a championship, but if you sell your soul for one you'll come out a loser.

I'm a HUGE Rangers fan and, essentially, right after they won The Cup, they dropped precipitously. The made the playoffs, but weren't as good... Neil Smith fleeced the system for rentals and the team was a disgrace for damned near a decade as a result. But I got my victory lap damn it.

See, I hear where you are coming from, but I don't think those analogies here are applicable. At the end of the day, the only thing we as fans get from sports is the memory... I remember watching Messier hoist The Cup and going nuts, despite the fact I was sick as hell. Apparently, I passed out after the celebration with the biggest grin on my face. I remember people telling me I was an idiot for keeping the faith with the Yankees in 1996 and when my confidence finally broke, they turned around and beat The Almighty Braves. One of my first sports memory was watching a kicker hand the Giants a Super Bowl.

The Knicks? Well, I remember: The Dunk ultimately meaning nothing because of Charles Smith, Reggie Miller and Ewing's finger roll, STAY ON THE FUCKING BENCH!!!, Hakeem showing the world he was the best center in the league, watching David Robinson and Tim Duncan celebrate on the MSG hardwood... and I haven't even gotten to Michael Jordan.

We all know this **** works in cycles, and the Knicks, Blazer, Suns, Sonics, Pacers, (90s) Heat, etc. are proof that NOTHING is accomplished without a championship. Nothing. I went to a lot of those games too because my dad had season tickets... but at teh end of the day, I have BETTER memories attached to the Rangers, Yankees and Giants, despite going to many Knicks games and them being my number one team.

Posted by BlueSeats:

Would you rather eat steak and lobster every day at great local restaurants, or eat McDonalds everyday but once in your life go to the best Parisian restaurant?

Would you rather your sibling be a solid citizen to all, or to be a mass murderer who gets a visit from the Pope?

Would you rather have a dad who was there for you every day to teach you sports and help with your homework, or one who was rarely around but once sent you to Disney World?

It's one thing to offer your soul for a championship, but if you sell your soul for one you'll come out a loser.

Those are terrible analogies because they're not giving credit to how good a championship is.

Posted by Solace:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Would you rather eat steak and lobster every day at great local restaurants, or eat McDonalds everyday but once in your life go to the best Parisian restaurant?

Would you rather your sibling be a solid citizen to all, or to be a mass murderer who gets a visit from the Pope?

Would you rather have a dad who was there for you every day to teach you sports and help with your homework, or one who was rarely around but once sent you to Disney World?

It's one thing to offer your soul for a championship, but if you sell your soul for one you'll come out a loser.

Those are terrible analogies because they're not giving credit to how good a championship is.

How good is a championship?

Taking care of oneself, being a solid citizen or a good parent aren't as good?

Sorry folks, but I believe the path is as important as the destination. I have more respect for a mountain climber who fails to reach the top by taking the most difficult route than the guys who scoot up on shortcuts and donkeys.

Posted by SupremeCommander:

The 1999 squad would have lasted longer if LJ's back didn't give and Layden and Dolan didn't destroy the team. That team was among my favorite Knicks teams because of how unexpected the run was, as well as the teams they went through to get there. That run definitely had a "Let's win it for Patrick!!!" feel to it, where the full effect never was captured due to his injury. Ultimately, they were second best to Tim Duncan, one of the best ever and David Robinson, an All-Time great himself.

People tend to forget just how injury prone Camby was. He missed like 20 games or more every year. We were a very good team with him and not much without. Ultimately after 3 years of frustration and him not playing- they made a move. Unfortunately it was for a guy who's injuries were worse than Camby's.

Jeff Van Gundy was very overated in 99' and almost blew the entire season by not trusting Sprewell and Camby more. It was very unexpected but healthy we were as good as anyone.

The Finals were tough because LJ was so banged up he couldn't be effect, childs had a bruised leg, dudley was injured and ewing didn't play.

But look at this team

Ewing/Camby
Thomas/Dudley
LJ/Sprewell
Houston
Ward/Childs

That virtually had everything and for some reason Ewing was head of the players association for reason i will never know, but he was never really in shape that entire season.

You need to get lucky to win, but you look at Riley who always makes the same mistake trading away for veterans that fold after a year. You just need to be smart and save the loyalty and don't sign guys to long term deals that don't warrant them

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by Solace:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Would you rather eat steak and lobster every day at great local restaurants, or eat McDonalds everyday but once in your life go to the best Parisian restaurant?

Would you rather your sibling be a solid citizen to all, or to be a mass murderer who gets a visit from the Pope?

Would you rather have a dad who was there for you every day to teach you sports and help with your homework, or one who was rarely around but once sent you to Disney World?

It's one thing to offer your soul for a championship, but if you sell your soul for one you'll come out a loser.

Those are terrible analogies because they're not giving credit to how good a championship is.

How good is a championship?

Taking care of oneself, being a solid citizen or a good parent aren't as good?

Sorry folks, but I believe the path is as important as the destination. I have more respect for a mountain climber who fails to reach the top by taking the most difficult route than the guys who scoot up on shortcuts and donkeys.

So you're happy with the current direction of the team? If so, that's the first time I'll have heard you say that. Granted, our current team fits neither scenario since we stink, but Isiah's intention was clearly to at least make an interesting team.

Otherwise, I'll simply say that your analogies are an exaggeration. The championship isn't simply an expensive dinner. It's not simply Disney World either. It's not a single event, the path occurred during that entire year.

If I was going to make an analogy, I'd equate it more to saving your money and living as cheap as possible so you can afford to buy a house, rather than splurging today and then not having enough for the down payment.

[Edited by - Solace on Dec 07 2007 3:42 PM]

Blue you can't call a Championship a Flash In The Pan.


IMO ask those franchises who never won a Championship how valuable just one would be. According to the choices in this thread it's not like we'd win a championship and suck forever. A Championship season is a long ride.

Posted by TrueBlue:

Blue you can't call a Championship a Flash In The Pan.


IMO ask those franchises who never won a Championship how valuable just one would be. According to the choices in this thread it's not like we'd win a championship and suck forever. A Championship season is a long ride.

I guess it depends on how long one would actually suck for. 5 years is not a long time, but what if it were 20?

But the scenario given suggest the championship would be followed by suckiness, which suggest it would be a flash in the pan, or perhaps a fluke.


Lets take a nonsensical hypothetical (don't bother to destroy it, I know it's stupid, but just run with it for our purposes here.) Lets imagine that Utah could, and chose to trade Deron Williams at the deadline straight up for Shaq, because they thought with him they could win this year, and this year only, and it worked. They won it, Shaq retired, and for a number of reasons they couldn't surpass 30 wins for, I don't know, maybe a decade.

Should Utah fans feel proud and satisfied?

I'm sure they'd like the short-lived coke high of it, but how long would that last? Was it substantial enough, or was it a soul selling experience?

when your franchise hasn't won a title in over 30 years, any scenario that would net them a title is preferable over continued failure to reach that plateau.